Happening (film)

Happening (L'Événement) is a 2021 French drama thriller film directed by Audrey Diwan. The film's adapted screenplay was written by Diwan and Marcia Romano from the memoir Happening by Annie Ernaux published in 2000. The film stars French-Romanian actress Anamaria Vartolomei as the main character, Anne, and her emotionally and physically traumatic process of obtaining and receiving an abortion before it was legalized in France. The film also stars Luàna Bajrami, Pio Marmaï, Sandrine Bonnaire, Anna Mouglalis, Louise Chevillotte, Kacey Mottet Kelin, and Louise Orry-Diquéro in supporting roles with cinematography by Laurent Tangy.

Set in 1963 France, when abortion was illegal, a young and talented student, Anne, discovers she is pregnant. Her opportunities to finish her studies begin to slip away from her while she attempts to receive help from two male doctors. Since abortion was illegal at this time, both doctors refuse to help her. As her final exams approach and her social life begins to fade, Anne struggles to find somebody who is willing to give her an abortion, even if she must risk prison and/or death to do so.

The film premiered at the 78th Venice International Film Festival on September 6, 2021, where the film won the Golden Lion and received universal acclaim from critics. After the award ceremony, Diwan shared that she "felt heard tonight!". It was distributed by Wild Bunch in France during July 2021. The film premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and was released in the U.S. on May 6, 2022. It was widely received, being nominated for and winning numerous awards at the 2021 Venice Film Festival, BAFTA, Gotham Awards, Lumières Awards, and César Awards.

Plot
In 1963 France, Anne is a promising university student at Angoulême. Despite having several close friends, she is often ridiculed by other students for supposedly being promiscuous. However, it is stated multiple times that all of the students "want the same thing".

While visiting her family in the country, Anne goes to see her doctor. Despite insisting she is still a virgin, the doctor informs her she is pregnant. Anne begs him to do something about the pregnancy and he refuses, insisting what she is asking is illegal.

Anne goes to see another doctor in the city and also asks him for help with an abortion. He prescribes her an injection promising her it will induce a miscarriage. When it fails, Anne begins to search for a doctor to perform the invasive medical procedure. Later we learn the injection was actually estradiol which, unbeknownst to Anne, helps the pregnancy.

Anne approaches a fellow classmate, Jean, for help. When he insists he doesn't know anyone who can help her he propositions her for sex, insisting there is no risk since she is already pregnant.

Growing increasingly desperate, Anne attempts to perform an abortion on herself with a knitting needle on her bedroom floor, which fails. She informs her friends, who previously shared their desires for sexual intimacy, that she is pregnant and trying to have an abortion and they abandon her.

As her grades begin to suffer and her chance at graduating with honours begins to slip away, Anne goes to see Maxime, her "boyfriend". Having previously been told by Anne that she intended to have an abortion, he is shocked to learn she is still pregnant, thinking she could handle the situation on her own. They fight and she returns to school, gaining no support from Maxime for the rest of the film.

Jean approaches Anne at night to introduce her to a female friend who has had an abortion. The friend gives her the number of a doctor explaining that the abortion will be painful and cost 400 francs upfront. Anne sells all her things to be able to afford the abortion.

The abortion takes place in a woman's apartment on her kitchen table. The woman instructs Anne that she will have to be silent so her neighbours do not hear. She inserts a wand and tells Anne that she will start to miscarry in 24 hours. Anne fails to miscarry and returns to the abortionist who inserts a second wand inside Anne telling her it is possible there will be complications. Anne decides to go through with the procedure. Anne returns to her dorm where she has a complicated and painful miscarriage. Anne is found by a dorm mate who calls an ambulance taking her to the hospital. Her case is labelled a miscarriage.

The film ends with Anne returning to university to take her final exams.

Cast

 * Anamaria Vartolomei as Anne
 * Kacey Mottet Klein as Jean
 * Sandrine Bonnaire as Gabrielle Duchesne
 * Louise Orry-Diquero as Brigitte
 * Louise Chevillotte as Olivia
 * Pio Marmaï as Professeur Bornec
 * Anna Mouglalis as Mme Rivière
 * Fabrizio Rongione as Dr. Ravinsky
 * Luàna Bajrami as Hélène
 * Leonor Oberson as Claire
 * Julien Frison as Maxime
 * Alice de Lencquesaing as Laëtitia

Production
During an interview on 23 April 2019 about her directorial debut film Losing It, screenwriter Audrey Diwan revealed she was adapting Annie Ernaux's 2000 memoir L'événement (translated as Happening), stating that the book was "very important" to her. On 29 May 2020, the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée, an agency of the French Ministry of Culture, announced they would support the film, moving the project into pre-production.

Principal photography for the film commenced on 27 July 2020 and took place throughout the summer. The film entered post-production in January 2021.

Release
The film had its world premiere in competition at the 78th Venice International Film Festival on 6 September 2021. Wild Bunch acquired distribution rights to the film for France in July 2021. Happening screened in the Spotlight section of the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. It was released in the U.S. on May 6, 2022 and is available to watch on streaming platforms such as Youtube, Hulu, and Amazon Prime.

Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 99% of 169 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.5/10. The website's consensus reads, "A tough but rewarding watch, Happening puts a personal face on an impossibly difficult choice and its heart-rending aftermath." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 86 out of 100 based on 36 critics' reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".

Guy Lodge, writing for Variety, praised the film's acting, particularly that of Anamaria Vartolomei's in the lead role that was described as "career-elevating". The Guardian's film festival critic Xan Brooks called the film "serious, gripping and finally honourable" and commended the cinematography of Laurent Tangy, saying that "the picture's tight framing is like a noose around her neck".

In an interview with the Financial Times, Diwan stated her intention to not make Happening a period piece, knowing "what my character was going through is now a current situation in many countries." Justin Chang, a film critic for the Los Angeles Times and NPR's Fresh Air, commended Diwan's choice to not make the film feel like a period piece, despite being a "re-creation of the past", as he thought the film "might very well be a window into the future." Michael O'Sullivan, a reporter and film critic for The Washington Post, states that Happening serves as a "sobering reminder that the consequences of limiting access to safe medical care aren't just theoretical but existential." At the time of the review in 2022, the U.S Supreme Court had recently made the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which had made access to abortion a constitutional right in the United States.